Imagination and Forests.

Sometimes you find things that immediately sends your mind on a journey through fairytale-like stories and worlds much more magical than this one. Roots can become monsters climbing out of the forest floor, with long and deformed hands, and a tentacled mouth reaching out to eat you! ;) 

Click the image to see a larger version. 

Good news everyone!

One of my photos will be at an exhibition in September!

"The exhibition consists of three modules / parts that are right next to each other. Your photo is thought to be "top picture" of all this, that is, it probably must be trimmed slightly to be more" panoramic " and it must be divided into three parts."

"the 2nd of Setpember is the international wetlands day that we mark, with activities and talks, and with the official opening of the new exhibition."

For anyone who is interested in seeing it, the exhibition it will be at:

Fetsund Lenser
Lundveien 3
1900 Fetsund
Norway

More information about the place:  http://fetsundlenser.no/besoksinformasjon.html

A follow up..

It's fun to be on Google+ these days. A lot of fun actually. And I thought I'd make this blogpost as kind of a follow up to the one before about Unconventional Compositions and such..

After all the negativity I've got on deviantArt for this photo, and things that I talked about in the previous post, it's nice to get some positive feedback at last :) This really made my day to be honest. Out of all my 78 photos in the portfolio-folder on G+ he decided to say something really nice about this one. What else is there to say except: ♥

Unconventional Compositions and artistic douchebags

I've been thinking a little bit about this recently, and it all kind of centres around this photo.

I've gotten quite a few negative remarks about this photo since I first published it in 2007. Mostly concerning the composition. There seems to be a lot of people who think the cropping is all wrong and that the image lacks balance, and that I should have followed the "rules". But ironically, when I tell them I've "broken the rules on purpose" they suddenly become very impressed and like the image after all.

First of all, I seldom (if ever) think very much about composition etc when I'm in the field. I usually just see what works and what doesn't. And I'm not afraid to experiment either, so I usually just play around with what I come across and see what comes of it later. And that's the way I like to do things. Getting back to the photo above, I had the same approach there. I tried a lot of different angles, depths etc. But this is the one I settled on when I decided to publish.

Why? Because it looks right to me. And when you think about it, it can be analysed without falling apart too xP
The flower moves diagonally through the image, giving it life and movement even though it's in black and white. The blurry background gives the flower main focus, but at the same time it brings forward the negative spaces in the photo, and it anchors the movement to the left side. Also the background divide the photo in a way that you can clearly see the rule of thirds. The flower doesn't just "fall out" of the photo, because of the background.

And I don't know about you guys, but I tend to think about these things quite a bit when I do the post processing of my photos, even if I don't do it in the field. And it bothers me when people try to pick apart my art at first and then suddenly change their mind just because I was able to show them I actually *did* think about such things before I published.. The photo doesn't magically become better just because the person who took it demonstrates the ability to think once or twice.

Either you like something or you don't. At least have the balls to stand by your opinions. Don't be an artistic douchebag (which is just a regular douchbag trying to hide behind fancy words and arm flailing).

Considering Critique

I’ve been thinking about critique, and the difficulty of knowing how/when to give it, and also how I react personally to criticism.

The mainstream idea is that constructive criticism is a good way to learn. This has always puzzled me a little. Yes, it’s good if you can give others advice about how they can do things differently or just bring your own personal perspective into the mix, but when is it okay to do so? It’s obviously fine if someone requests it. But is it okay otherwise?

Some people looove giving advice and critiquing others, at any given moment, whilst others are more apprehensive. Some people thrive when being critiqued and they develop their skills much more efficiently as a result. Others take it as a personal insult and completely lose their flare and creativity because of it. And when it comes to art this is like trying to navigate in a minefield (at least that’s how I’ve come to see it).

Personally I try to avoid critiquing other people’s art unless they ask for an honest opinion. And when I say this it’s important to note that I’m always honest. If I like something I say it, and I mean it. I like to elaborate on why I like it, and I’m not hesitant to make a big deal out of how much I may love something. But if I don’t like something, or think it’s just fine (but some aspect could have been done a lot differently) I tend to keep it to myself. I don’t like the “lecturing someone else on how to do art”.

Mainly this has to do with my own flaw when it comes to criticism. I am well aware of that I can’t really handle criticism at all. I get defensive, wounded and at times even hostile when/if people try to tell me “how to do it right”, and I discard any pointers/ideas completely (no matter how good or valid they may be). This is because I consider my creative process to be a very personal and private thing. I am well aware of that I have a whole lot left to learn, and that many of my photos could have been done very differently, both in the field and in the later, editing stages. But at the time of creating said photograph it’s the best I can do, and it’s the way I see things around me. It’s a perception I have that in time probably will change as I learn and see even more. And for someone else to come along and hack away at it (even if it’s done with the very best of intentions) is something that often hurts me very deeply. And hence I try to avoid doing it to others if they happen to feel the same as me when it comes to criticism.

I don’t know if anyone else is like this too, but just the possibility of others reacting like I do makes me think that we should all be a little careful of how we give “advice” to other artists. We should also be mindful of that everyone sees things differently, and what may be breathtakingly beautiful to me might not be the same for you, or anyone else for that matter. And thus there can’t really be any clear definitions of right or wrong ways of making art. Just different ideas and perspectives.

It’s worth keeping in mind the next time you see / hear something and think “dear lord that’s crap” ;)